15 Aug

SEO TIPS: Interview Your SEO

Did you ever consider that it is actually important to have a good relationship with your SEO team? SEOs are a bit different than your traditional employees, at least so far as how they fit into your business scheme. When you begin a relationship with an SEO company, you need to get actual answers from them regarding how they will help improve your rank. Vague answers are not answers at all. Too often, SEOs will promise top page rank, but never explain to you what their strategy is. This is not because it violates some proprietary secret, it is usually because they have no idea what they are doing or how to fake their way through an explanation of why they deserve your SEO budgeted dollars rather than another company. Sometimes the easiest answer is the right one.

All links are not created equally, so ask where they are coming from. If an SEO is operating aboveboard then they will have no trouble discussing this with you prior to taking your money. What links are good and which are reasonably attainable are not secrets – demand to know what links are possible for you. You deserve to know if your SEO is going to go organic or the PPC route to get your site rank up. If you cannot get straight answers about these very basic concepts then you need to move on to a company that will tell you how your money is being spent.

Knowing who will be providing copywriting services for webmasters that require fresh content is another aspect of SEO you need to ask about. The copywriter pro

viding your content should be able to write content fluently in either a conversational or professional tone (depending on your needs) rather than recycled idioms and nonsensical phrases packed around keywords which make no sense. That simply does not work in relation to Google and it does nothing for people that actually visit your site. If the company you are preparing to deal with cannot provide samples of competently written content then you may want to consider a different company or at least outsourcing that part to someone else.

They also should be more than willing to provide you with reasonable estimates concerning when you will see conversions increase as well as a fair range of how much of an increase you can expect. If you are told it is instant – find a different company. SEO takes time. Results are the ultimate goal, but as a consumer you have the right to know how those goals will be achieved. Ask questions and make informed decisions. If something seems too good to be true it likely is. A reasonable answer is one that will openly admit that it takes time to jump to the top of the search pile rather than those that promise near instant results which would likely be the result of black hat SEO. Anything worth doing is worth doing right, and shortcuts always come back to bite you in SEO.

Ask questions regarding anything that you are not clear on. You are the consumer, it is your right. By the same token, take the time to actually read your SEOs website and FAQs as they will often have the answers you are looking for presented in a clear easy to use format. It is your consumer dollar, make sure you are pleased with how you are spending it. Get real answers and by all means if the answers make no sense, look for another SEO.